The Arizona Cardinals may be about to make the most surprising pick of the first round. According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, there is “growing chatter in league circles” that Notre Dame running back Jeremiyah Love is a genuine option for Arizona at third overall in this week’s NFL Draft in Pittsburgh.

“There are some who believe he could go as high as No. 3 to Arizona and no lower than No. 7 to Washington,” Schefter wrote Monday morning.

Love, a Doak Walker Award winner and All-American as a junior in 2025, is the consensus top running back (arguably top overall player) in this draft class. He ran for 1,372 yards and 18 touchdowns this past season for the Fighting Irish and caught 27 passes for 280 more yards. Over three seasons at Notre Dame, he amassed 2,882 rushing yards on 6.7 yards per carry with 36 touchdowns. He ran a 4.36 at the NFL Combine, matching Detroit Lions running back Jahmyr Gibbs, the player NFL Media’s Lance Zierlein compares him to, despite carrying more weight. He never missed a game in college.

If selected in the top five, Love would be the first running back drafted that high since the New York Giants took Saquon Barkley at No. 2 overall in 2018.

Arizona is not necessarily eager to stay at No. 3. According to Schefter, the Cardinals would ideally prefer to trade down and accumulate draft capital, and “exploratory” calls regarding the pick have already been made. Multiple reports this offseason, including one from Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer, have identified Arizona among the teams most interested in moving back. The problem, as Breer noted, is finding a trade partner willing to pay the price.

If no deal materializes Thursday night, Love appears to be Arizona’s most likely selection. The fit is not without logic. The Cardinals finished 3–14 in 2025, the worst record in franchise history since 1959, and their backfield was decimated by injuries all season. Starter James Conner suffered a season-ending ankle injury in Week 3. Trey Benson went down with a knee injury the following week. The team effectively ran out of capable backs.

Bad News for James Conner

This offseason, Arizona restructured Conner’s contract, signed former Atlanta Falcons back Tyler Allgeier to a two-year, $12.25 million deal, and re-signed depth option Bam Knight. It is a functional backfield on paper. But Conner is 31 and coming off major foot surgery. Allgeier has never been a featured back. Benson’s availability remains uncertain. New head coach Mike LaFleur, who previously ran the Rams’ offense, is inheriting a roster with question marks at nearly every level.

I would assume that Conner would become a cut candidate at training camp if Love is the pick at 3.

A healthy, explosive, three-down back like Love, one who ran 433 carries in college without fumbling once, would transform Arizona’s ground game immediately. The Cardinals scored just 258 points in 2025, 30th in the league.

The counterargument is financial. Running backs are the most devalued position in the NFL, and spending a top-three pick there remains a genuine philosophical debate across front offices. Arizona also has needs at quarterback, offensive line, and edge rusher that a top pick could address. If the Cardinals pass on Love, quarterback Ty Simpson and the possibility of a trade back into Round 1 to take him remain other options in play.

Washington at No. 7 serves as the floor, per Schefter. The Commanders added Rachaad White and Jerome Ford this offseason, but remain underinvested at the position. Quarterback Jayden Daniels, coming off an injury-shortened 2025 season, would be a compelling reason for Washington to add an offensive weapon of Love’s caliber.

Smoke Screen

There is also a chance the Cardinals are daring someone to trade up. These final few days before the NFL draft are full of fun, nothing stories. We’ll just have to wait and see. The 2026 NFL Draft begins Thursday night in Pittsburgh. 

Sell high or hold the line? The Buccaneers’ offseason complicates what was once a straightforward dynasty asset.

Bucky Irving enters the 2026 season with legitimate bounce-back upside and a genuine cloud hanging over his dynasty value. Tampa Bay’s decision to sign former Pittsburgh Steelers running back Kenneth Gainwell to a two-year, $14 million free-agent deal is the primary reason dynasty managers should be asking hard questions right now, not after the season starts.

The backstory is well-established. Irving was among the most impressive backfield revelations of the 2024 season, leading all NFL rookies with 1,514 scrimmage yards and eight rushing touchdowns. His 5.4 yards per carry ranked third in NFL history among rookies with at least 200 rushing attempts, behind only Adrian Peterson and Clinton Portis. The efficiency, the explosiveness, the pass-catching, everything pointed toward a centerpiece talent worth holding in dynasty for years.

Then came 2025. Lower-body and shoulder injuries sidelined Irving for seven games, and when he returned, he was clearly compromised. He finished with 865 scrimmage yards, four touchdowns, and 3.4 yards per carry,  a sharp drop from the year before. He had offseason shoulder surgery, though reports indicate his recovery is on track.

The injury history is one concern. Kenneth Gainwell is another.

In Pittsburgh last season, Gainwell quietly put together the best year of his career. He totaled 1,023 yards from scrimmage, scored eight touchdowns, and hauled in 73 passes on 85 targets. For those still using the ZeroRB strategy, he was an award winner if you made him your guy.

Gainwell is one of the most productive pass-catching backs in the league. Third-down work, screen passes, check-downs, and garbage time that round out a back’s fantasy profile and push a complementary player from a role player to a genuine flex stud.

But whoa, let’s not get too carried away… Irving is still the lead back in Tampa Bay. He led the Buccaneers with 173 carries even in his injury-plagued 2025 season. But Gainwell’s two-year, $10 million-guaranteed contract is not a backup signing. It is a co-featured role, and the coaching staff has already shown a willingness to distribute the backfield workload.

Dynasty Impact

This is the sell-high window IMO. Irving’s dynasty price remains inflated relative to his current situation. Managers who held him through his 2024 breakout have him rostered at a value that predates the injury setback, the Gainwell signing, and the lingering questions about his durability.

He is a 23-year-old with elite rushing traits, and that will keep his dynasty cost elevated for now. But the ceiling of a workhorse bell-cow back, the role his 2024 season suggested he could hold, has narrowed meaningfully. A dynasty manager willing to sell Irving at near-peak value right now, before the new backfield hierarchy becomes obvious to the broader market, would be making a defensible, forward-looking decision. Target a manager still pricing Irving like a 2024 asset.

The Pittsburgh Steelers have done their homework on the 2026 quarterback class, and one name stands out above the rest as a potential mid-round target: Miami’s Carson Beck.

That’s according to Mike DeFabo of The Athletic, who reports that Beck took a pre-draft visit with the Steelers, and that Pittsburgh may view him as the strongest fit among the passers in this draft class. Beck spent four seasons at Georgia before transferring to Miami, where he threw for 3,813 yards and 30 touchdowns in 2025, leading the Hurricanes to the national championship game. He enters the draft as a multi-year college starter with extensive big-game experience, recovering from UCL surgery on his throwing elbow after the 2024 season.

Penn State’s Drew Allar also visited Pittsburgh, arriving on April 15, the final day teams were permitted to host prospects. Alabama’s Ty Simpson, who has drawn widespread media speculation as a Steelers target, did not receive an invitation for a pre-draft visit. DeFabo notes that Simpson’s limited starting experience in college has given the organization pause.

The Steelers are not expected to use their first-round pick at No. 21 on a quarterback. Pittsburgh holds 12 total selections in this week’s draft, the most of any team in the league, including picks at No. 21 and No. 53. Beck, projected to come off the board somewhere in the third or fourth round, fits the window the Steelers appear to be targeting.

All of this unfolding draft planning takes place against a familiar backdrop of uncertainty at the position. Veteran quarterback Aaron Rodgers has yet to inform the Steelers whether he intends to return for a second season, and per NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, no decision is expected before Round 1 kicks off Thursday night.

That is essentially the same situation Pittsburgh navigated last year, when Rodgers did not formally commit until June. His 2025 season was by most measures a success; he completed nearly 66 percent of his passes for 3,322 yards, 24 touchdowns, and seven interceptions while guiding the Steelers to the AFC North division title. Pittsburgh went 10–7 before falling to the Houston Texans in the wild-card round.

In the meantime, 2025 sixth-round pick Will Howard is set to take first-team reps at Monday’s voluntary minicamp under first-year head coach Mike McCarthy. Mason Rudolph remains the only other quarterback on the active roster.

Fernando Mendoza, the Indiana quarterback widely expected to be selected first overall by the Las Vegas Raiders, marks the clear top of the class. The drop-off after Mendoza is considered steep, which is part of why the Steelers appear content to wait and take their swing at the position in the middle rounds, with Beck firmly in the conversation.

Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver A.J. Brown to the New England Patriots is still very much on course, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, who reported Monday that the two teams are expected to resume negotiations on or before June 1 with a deal considered likely.

Brown, a three-time Pro Bowler, remains under contract with Philadelphia. The Eagles have repeatedly stated he is on the roster. But the June 1 date has become a financial focal point for both sides. Under NFL rules, a post-June 1 trade would allow Philadelphia to split Brown’s $40 million cap charge across two seasons rather than absorbing it entirely in 2026, a difference of more than $27 million in immediate cap relief.

“The Eagles remain open to trading AJ Brown, the Patriots remain highly interested in acquiring the star receiver, and conversations are expected to resume shortly on or before June 1, likely culminating in a deal, per league sources,” Schefter wrote Monday.

No formal agreement has been reached. Schefter noted another team could emerge as a competing suitor, but added that “multiple sources say they believe Brown and the Patriots are likely to become a tandem.”

New England head coach Mike Vrabel coached Brown with the Tennessee Titans from 2019 to 2021. That familiarity has been widely cited as a driving factor in the Patriots’ pursuit. Brown reportedly did not attend the Eagles’ voluntary offseason program on Monday, which opened the same day Schefter published his report.

The timing coincides with the 2026 NFL Draft, scheduled this week in Pittsburgh from April 23 through 25. How Philadelphia and New England approach the receiver position in the draft could offer a window into how advanced trade talks actually are. The Eagles, widely expected to add wide receiver help in the draft regardless, have already acquired Dontayvion Wicks from Green Bay and signed Hollywood Brown and Elijah Moore this offseason in apparent preparation for a post-Brown receiving corps.

For New England, the motivation is straightforward. The Patriots are operating within the window created by quarterback Drake Maye’s contract, the 2025 MVP runner-up who finished just five points behind Matthew Stafford in the closest AP MVP race in more than two decades. Brown, who turns 29 in June, would give Maye a true outside No. 1 target the offense has not had since Stefon Diggs was released in March.

Brown’s 2025 season, 78 receptions, 1,003 yards, seven touchdowns in 15 games, was his lowest-yardage full season since joining Philadelphia, though he remained productive and was a key contributor on the team that won Super Bowl LIX.

The Patriots signed Romeo Doubs to a four-year deal this offseason and already carry Kayshon Boutte, DeMario Douglas, Mack Hollins, and Kyle Williams on the depth chart. Adding Brown would give New England one of the more formidable receiving rooms in the AFC.

Unless a new team enters the picture before June, the league expects this deal to happen.

Dynasty Football Impact

 If/when the Brown trade is completed, DeVonta Smith immediately becomes the most important dynasty buy. Smith has topped 1,000 receiving yards in three of his four NFL seasons, all while operating as the clear second option behind Brown.

He has never had a true WR1 workload, and some within the Eagles organization believe a role elevation could unlock a Jaxon Smith-Njigba-level statistical jump. Smith is under contract through the 2028 season on a three-year, $75 million extension, providing the stability dynasty managers prize. He is 27 years old, entering his prime, and would immediately become the focal point of Jalen Hurts’ passing offense the moment Brown clears the building. At his current dynasty market value,  still priced as a WR2, Smith represents one of the most actionable must-buy windows of the offseason.

Boutte’s Name Surfaces in Trade Talks as Patriots Reshape Receiver Room

New England Patriots wide receiver Kayshon Boutte has emerged as a legitimate trade candidate this offseason, according to NFL insider Jordan Schultz of Fox Sports, who reports that Boutte is “a name that has come up in trade talks” and that teams “believe he could be available for the right price.”

The timing is notable. Boutte is entering the final year of his rookie contract after posting the most productive season of his career. In 2025, he caught 33 passes for 551 yards and six touchdowns on 46 targets across 14 games,  numbers that established him as one of the few consistent weapons on a Patriots offense still finding its footing around quarterback Drake Maye.

But New England’s receiver room looks substantially different heading into 2026. The Patriots released veteran wideout Stefon Diggs before free agency and then signed former Green Bay Packers receiver Romeo Doubs to a four-year deal worth $68 million in base value,  a signing that directly reshapes where Boutte fits on the depth chart.

Doubs joins an already crowded unit that includes DeMario Douglas, Mack Hollins, Kyle Williams, and Efton Chism III. With Doubs now occupying the outside receiver role that Boutte carved out in 2025, the path back to meaningful snaps has narrowed.

The situation becomes more complicated by the looming possibility of a blockbuster addition. According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, an A.J. Brown trade from the Philadelphia Eagles to New England is “still tracking to happen” on or after June 1, with multiple league sources describing a Patriots-Brown pairing as the “likely outcome.” Brown is currently still a member of the Eagles, and no deal has been completed.

Should that trade materialize, the receiver hierarchy in New England would shift dramatically. Brown is a classic X-receiver, the same role Boutte filled last season. Head coach Mike Vrabel previously worked with Brown in Tennessee, adding both familiarity and motivation to pursue the deal.

“There’s 12 of us,” Boutte said of the wide receiver room earlier this offseason. “At the end of the day, there will probably be six of us if we’re honest.”

That candor reflects the reality of Boutte’s situation. He is not without leverage. His 2025 production, combined with his age and contract year, gives him measurable trade value. At least one analyst has noted the Dallas Cowboys as a potential fit, given their ongoing need at the receiver position.

For now, Boutte is participating in voluntary offseason workouts and has not publicly addressed the trade speculation beyond a social media post that offered little comment.

The Patriots have not confirmed any trade discussions involving Boutte. General manager Eliot Wolf has not commented specifically on Boutte’s availability.

If New England does eventually add Brown, a trade becomes the most likely outcome for Boutte. A change of scenery could serve both parties, and a receiver with 551 yards in a run-first offense would likely draw genuine interest across the league.

Most NFL fans have not circled September 10 on their calendar yet. The full league-schedule has not been released, which is expected in mid-May, after the draft wraps in Pittsburgh, but one game is already locked in, official, and unlike anything the NFL has ever staged.

The 49ers will face the Rams at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Australia. Kickoff is set for Thursday, September 10 at 5:35 p.m. PT, which means Australian fans will watch on Friday morning, September 11, at 10:35 a.m. local time. It will be the first regular-season NFL game ever played on Australian soil, and it counts in the standings.

The game is a Week 1 matchup and an NFC West rivalry. The Rams are the designated home team and have held international marketing rights in Australia and New Zealand since 2021. The 49ers were announced as their opponent in February. Together, they will play at one of the most storied sports venues in the world, the MCG, which has a capacity well above 90,000 and has hosted Olympic events, Ashes cricket and Australian rules football for more than a century.

Commissioner Roger Goodell traveled to Melbourne on Thursday and held a press conference at the MCG. He made it clear that this is not a one-time event.

“There’s no question that we’re going to be playing here again,” Goodell said, via Reuters. “Our view is that we’re coming here for the long term. We don’t come as a one-off. This isn’t a circus.”

Asked whether a 2027 game in Australia was already in the works, Goodell left the door open. “It might,” he said.

The Melbourne game is part of a record nine international games the NFL has scheduled for 2026, spanning four continents, seven countries, and eight stadiums. London gets three games. Paris, Rio de Janeiro, Munich, Madrid, and Mexico City round out the slate. Australia is the newest addition and arguably the most historic, given the distance involved and the MCG’s scale as a venue.

What Are The Odds?

This is not your average matchup; the NFC West was the best division in football last season, with 3 of the 4 teams winning 12 games. Meaning, the impact of this win is massive when you factor in travel time. I can’t see sportsbooks making this game more than a 3-point spread, considering it’s being played on a neutral field. I’m sure Sportbooks, online betting sites, and Platforms with payid pokies Australia no deposit bonus will be thrilled to have this matchup added to the NFL schedule. There are a ton of NFL fans overseas, but every game brings more attention to the sport. 

Tickets went on sale earlier this month through Ticketmaster Australia, with general admission starting at $140 AUD and standing room from $95 AUD. The game has drawn significant attention locally, with the Victorian State Government serving as a key partner alongside Visit Victoria.

Past Games

The Rams have spent years building toward this moment. Players visited Melbourne during the 2025 offseason for fan events and youth clinics. The team opened an NFL Asia-Pacific Academy in 2024. The league launched a national flag football program in Australia in 2023 and has operated an office there since 2022.

The 49ers bring one of the NFL’s most recognizable brands to the matchup. They have won five Super Bowl championships and count Christian McCaffrey and Brock Purdy among their current stars.

The broader schedule, opponents, dates, times, and broadcast assignments for all 272 games will be released around mid-May, roughly three weeks after the draft concludes. But for this one game, everything is already set. The date is confirmed. The venue is confirmed. The teams are confirmed.

Two Bye Week Wish

I have no problem expanding the NFL into new markets, as I understand that TV deals and streaming platforms power this sport, but I wish the league would adopt a two-bye-week option for NFL teams. Both teams in this international game will have to fly home and then adjust to the time zone before preparing for their week two opponent. 

We all know that Thursday Night Football is usually low-quality due to short weeks, and with the NFL constantly expanding into other countries, I wish they would add a buffer to ensure higher quality. 

It would be easy to roll out. Every team gets one bye week between weeks 4 and 8, and the other between weeks 9 and 13. It would stretch the season by one week, and you could schedule teams coming off either their first or second bye week to play on Thursday. 

Just my two cents.